'Policy of Death': Amazon Guardians Sue Ecuador's President Over Oil, Mining Decrees

[Judi Lynn]

"We are fighting to defend our territory, our rivers, our forest, our fish, and our animals," one Indigenous leader explained. "Without our forest and without water, we cannot live."

BRETT WILKINS

October 18, 2021

In a bid to halt what one Indigenous leader called a "policy of death," communities from Ecuador's Amazon region on Monday sued the country's right-wing president, who is planning a major expansion of fossil fuel extraction and mining that threatens millions of acres of pristine rainforest and the survival of native peoples.

In the first of a series of lawsuits against President Guillermo Lasso, Indigenous nations, groups, and advocates allege that Executive Decree 95—which aims to double the country's oil production to one million barrels per day by deregulating the fossil fuel industry—violates their internationally recognized right to free, prior, and informed consultation and consent.

Lasso, a former banker who defeated progressive economist Andrés Arauz in a second-round runoff election in April, has also said he wants to make mining one of Ecuador's leading income sources.

Monday's lawsuit will be followed by a second suit against Executive Decree 151, which loosens environmental controls to expedite foreign mining companies' entry into the Amazon region against the wishes of Indigenous peoples. The plaintiffs are demanding Ecuador's Constitutional Court strike down both decrees.

More:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/10/18/policy-death-amazon-guardians-sue-ecuadors-president-over-oil-mining-decrees



Lasso is bringing "change", all right. He's here to destroy all hope for 99%
of Ecuador's citizens who can't simply live in their Miami houses until the
next election.